PSoC® 3 | Cypress Semiconductor

PSoC® 3

PSoC® 3 is a true programmable embedded system-on-chip integrating configurable analog and digital peripheral functions, memory and a microcontroller on a single chip. And now our breakthrough new PSoC 3 architecture boosts performance through:

Integrated high-precision 20-bit resolution analog

Ultra low power with industry’s widest voltage range

Programmable PLD-based logic

Single-Cycle 8051 core up to 67 MHz

PSoC 3 is now available in Chip Scale Packages (CSP) allowing you to design with the flexibility of PSoC in space constrained and small form factor applications like wearables, fitness products, and mobile devices.

Technology

The PSoC® architecture consists of configurable analog and digital blocks, a CPU subsystem and programmable routing and interconnect. PSoC lets you plug in predefined and tested IP from the PSoC library of functions, or code your own. Either way, you have the flexibility to build innovation and competitive advantage into your products.

Programable Routing & Interconnect
This frees you to re-route signals to userselected pins, shedding the constraints of a fixed-peripheral controller. In addition, global buses allow for signal multiplexing and logic operations, eliminating the need for a complicated digital-logic gate design.

Configurable Analog and Digital Blocks
The union of configurable analog and digital circuitry is the basis of the PSoC platform. You configure these blocks using pre-built library functions or by creating your own. By combining several digital blocks, you can create 16-, 24-, or even 32-bit wide logic resources. The analog blocks are composed of an assortment of switch capacitor, op-amp, comparator, ADC, DAC, and digital filter blocks, allowing complex analog signal flows. For a partial list of preconfigured functions included in PSoC software, see the sidebars on the next two pages. You can modify and personalize each function to your design.

PSoC devices also have dedicated communication interfaces like I2C, Full-Speed USB 2.0, CAN 2.0, and on-chip debugging capabilities using JTAG and Serial Wire Debug. The newest members of the PSoC family offer industry-standard processors like the 8051 and ARM Cortex-M3.

Ultra Low Power

Low Power Management Solutions with PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 devices are easy to design and implement because both families were designed for power optimization. PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 devices have flexible power modes to optimize power and performance.

The family datasheet is intended to provide quick reference on the specific PSoC 3 device family.

The PSoC 3 architecture has multiple device families (i.e. CY8C38 family). Each family has a unique datasheet. They are categorized under Datasheets section on cypress website.

The silicon datasheet covers key features of the device, brief operational details, pinout, electrical specifications and characterization graphs. It only focuses on the silicon features. Due to programmable nature of PSoC, new analog and digital peripheral are created continuously. These peripherals are documented in the component datasheets. Some of the very common MCU peripherals like UART or SPI aren't documented in the device datasheet as they are constructed in programmable blocks, they are documented in the component datasheet.

Both Serial Wire Debug (SWD) and Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interfaces are supported for programming the PSoC 3 device. The programming specifications for all PSoC 3 families are available as application note AN62391.

The PSoC 3 Technical Reference Manual provides detailed information on the device features and how they work. It is intended for advance user's who want to understand what's going on under the hood.

In case of MCU, technical reference manual is the most commonly used document for programming. However, in case of PSoC component datasheets provides the same functionality. The technical reference manual is intended to be technical reference to clarify device behavior. It will be mostly used by the advanced users. It isn't intended for the beginners. PSoC 3 has way more registers compared to typical MCU due to highly programmable and flexible system on chip architecture. Therefore, the technical reference manual is split into two documents.

This is the primary documentation used during development. Traditional MCU peripherals and many high level functions are available as component in PSoC Creator. These components can represent fixed function peripherals on the device (i.e. USB, CAN), hardware peripherals constructed with programmable logic (i.e SPI, UART) or high level system function (i.e thermistor). In case of traditional MCU peripherals are accessed through register interface and user is responsible for creating driver layer. In case of PSoC 3, PSoC Creator also creates this driver layer by providing APIs to configure/ control peripheral activity.
The component datasheets are accessible directly from PSoC Creator by right clicking on the component. These component datasheets are also available on Cypress website.

This documents the known problems with the current release of PSoC Creator and solutions for them.

This document is a software equivalent of device errata. It is very critical that user refers to this document as part of the design activity. This document is accessible in PSoC Creator under Help → Documentation → Known Problems and Solutions.

Help within Software

The help within software provides guidance on how to user various features in PSoC Creator and PSoC Programmer.

This document is accessible in PSoC Creator under Help > Topics and in PSoC Programmer under Help → Help Topics. This document is also available by pressing "F1" within PSoC Creator or PSoC Programmer.
PSoC programmer has user's guide that is available through start menu in Windows at Start → All Programs → PSoC Programmer → Documentation → PSoC Programmer User's Guide.

PSoC Creator release notes document new features in the release, potential issues that can impact design migration to new version of software, installation requirements and defects fixed since last release. This document is accessible in PSoC Creator under Help → Documentation → Release Notes

These documents describe the command line interface (CLI) and COM interface for PSOC Programmer.

PSoC Programmer Command Line Interface Guide
This document describes the command line interface (CLI) for PSoC Programmer. The CLI is intended for scripting, not as an interactive program. It has no interactive bells and whistles. A PERL module is included which can be used to drive the program. This document is available through start menu in Windows at Start → All Programs → PSoC Programmer → Documentation → PSoC Command Line Interface Guide.PSoC Programmer COM Interface Guide:
This document describes the COM interface for PSoC Programmer. The COM interface is alternate to CLI for programming PSoC in automated environment. This document is available through start menu in Windows at Start → All Programs → PSoC Programmer → Documentation → PSoC Command Line Interface Guide.

PSoC 3 application notes helps you understand use various PSoC 3 and PSoC Creator features. They also provide guidance on how to solve variety of system design challenges using PSoC.

It may provide working examples to use these features. They will provide guidelines on variety of design tradeoffs with these features. Many of the application notes provides PSoC Creator component to simplify reuse of key solution provided in the application note. Application note webpage provides useful information on application note content, related material on cypress website. Many application note webpage also have related video to quickly understand key concepts covered by application note.

The Knowledgebase is a database of frequently asked technical support questions and answers.

Cypress offers several development kits allowing you to evaluate, prototype, and debug complete designs with PSoC®. PSoC 3 Development kits are broadly classified into two categories – Development Kits (DVKs) and Expansion Kits (EVKs).

The family datasheet is intended to provide quick reference on the specific PSoC 3 device family.

The PSoC 3 architecture has multiple device families (i.e. CY8C38 family). Each family has a unique datasheet. They are categorized under Datasheets section on cypress website.

The silicon datasheet covers key features of the device, brief operational details, pinout, electrical specifications and characterization graphs. It only focuses on the silicon features. Due to programmable nature of PSoC, new analog and digital peripheral are created continuously. These peripherals are documented in the component datasheets. Some of the very common MCU peripherals like UART or SPI aren't documented in the device datasheet as they are constructed in programmable blocks, they are documented in the component datasheet.

Both Serial Wire Debug (SWD) and Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interfaces are supported for programming the PSoC 3 device. The programming specifications for all PSoC 3 families are available as application note AN62391.

The PSoC 3 Technical Reference Manual provides detailed information on the device features and how they work. It is intended for advance user's who want to understand what's going on under the hood.

In case of MCU, technical reference manual is the most commonly used document for programming. However, in case of PSoC component datasheets provides the same functionality. The technical reference manual is intended to be technical reference to clarify device behavior. It will be mostly used by the advanced users. It isn't intended for the beginners. PSoC 3 has way more registers compared to typical MCU due to highly programmable and flexible system on chip architecture. Therefore, the technical reference manual is split into two documents.

This is the primary documentation used during development. Traditional MCU peripherals and many high level functions are available as component in PSoC Creator. These components can represent fixed function peripherals on the device (i.e. USB, CAN), hardware peripherals constructed with programmable logic (i.e SPI, UART) or high level system function (i.e thermistor). In case of traditional MCU peripherals are accessed through register interface and user is responsible for creating driver layer. In case of PSoC 3, PSoC Creator also creates this driver layer by providing APIs to configure/ control peripheral activity.

The component datasheets are accessible directly from PSoC Creator by right clicking on the component. These component datasheets are also available on Cypress website.

This documents the known problems with the current release of PSoC Creator and solutions for them.

This document is a software equivalent of device errata. It is very critical that user refers to this document as part of the design activity. This document is accessible in PSoC Creator under Help → Documentation → Known Problems and Solutions.

Help within Software

The help within software provides guidance on how to user various features in PSoC Creator and PSoC Programmer.

This document is accessible in PSoC Creator under Help > Topics and in PSoC Programmer under Help → Help Topics. This document is also available by pressing "F1" within PSoC Creator or PSoC Programmer.

PSoC Creator release notes document new features in the release, potential issues that can impact design migration to new version of software, installation requirements and defects fixed since last release. This document is accessible in PSoC Creator under Help → Documentation → Release Notes

These documents describe the command line interface (CLI) and COM interface for PSOC Programmer.

PSoC Programmer Command Line Interface Guide

This document describes the command line interface (CLI) for PSoC Programmer. The CLI is intended for scripting, not as an interactive program. It has no interactive bells and whistles. A PERL module is included which can be used to drive the program. This document is available through start menu in Windows at Start → All Programs → PSoC Programmer → Documentation → PSoC Command Line Interface Guide.

PSoC Programmer COM Interface Guide:

This document describes the COM interface for PSoC Programmer. The COM interface is alternate to CLI for programming PSoC in automated environment. This document is available through start menu in Windows at Start → All Programs → PSoC Programmer → Documentation → PSoC Command Line Interface Guide.

PSoC 3 application notes helps you understand use various PSoC 3 and PSoC Creator features. They also provide guidance on how to solve variety of system design challenges using PSoC.

It may provide working examples to use these features. They will provide guidelines on variety of design tradeoffs with these features. Many of the application notes provides PSoC Creator component to simplify reuse of key solution provided in the application note. Application note webpage provides useful information on application note content, related material on cypress website. Many application note webpage also have related video to quickly understand key concepts covered by application note.

The Knowledgebase is a database of frequently asked technical support questions and answers.

Cypress offers several development kits allowing you to evaluate, prototype, and debug complete designs with PSoC®. PSoC 3 Development kits are broadly classified into two categories – Development Kits (DVKs) and Expansion Kits (EVKs).